On Tuesday night, sick as a dog and in the mood to assuage the annoyance of stuffed sinuses with entertainment, I opened Instagram. There, I was met with a deluge of posts (precisely 49) from one man and one man only: Milo Anthony Ventimiglia.
Milo Ventimiglia, of This Is Us fame–and Heroes and Gilmore Girls, for those of us who enjoy the deeper cuts–is a one-of-a-kind Instagram user. Once every two months or so, Ventimiglia will go forth at-random to do what I call a “photo dump.” He will post pic after artsy-fartsy pic with the occasional stern selfie thrown in for the ladies (hello, engagement rate!). Scrolling through his posts and subsequently his profile page, I had a lot of questions both as a beloved fan (marry me) and Social Media Manager (indulge me). Here they are in the order they popped into my brain:
1. Do you use VSCO? If so what is your combination of filters? I’m 95% sure you use VSCO A5, but I’m ready to be proven wrong.
2. Are these iPhone, digital, or film camera shots? A blend? What’s the balance? Why is this balance important to you? TELL ME.
3. Let’s not fudge and mudge here, Milo. We all know you use a grid preview app. Which one? Spill.
4. Do you have an editorial calendar? If so, do you plan out the narrative arc of your images?
Also, an addendum to the above question: These donut holes… Were they good? Were you consciously leaving the reader out of your sensory experience by avoiding a review or a location tag??
5. Why do you only allow select comments from friends? Will there be a time when you can give me and mine the opportunity to freely express our thirst?
6. I have a lot of questions about this pic. What’s going on here? Should I search for it in the fibers? What compelled the pic? Are you good? As commenter @jessicaradloff14 wrote beneath it: “OK you’re gonna have to explain this one.”
7. You often use the conceit of the camera pointed down at your feet. Is this a metaphor to mean… you are always on the move? You delight in the mundane? You especially like feet? I could use an explainer.
8. What compels you to sign off on every Instagram post “MV”? Do you consider these posts dispatches? And if so, are they really dispatches if you’re rocketing them off 49 at a time? MV, please let an AM know.
9. This is really more of a constructive criticism but would love a 20% increase on this content next quarter (see: drop).
10. Please share your brand book. Would love to get those red and blue pantones. Provide at your earliest convenience.
Anyway, Milo, I hope you read this and find the time to answer these burning–nay, flaming–questions I have for you. As a social media professional by trade, I must know the strategy and the logic, especially if the answer is that you’re just a bad-boy anarchist living by your own rules—on Instagram.
Much love, New York City, AM.
Feature photo via Getty Images.
